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		Ray Sharp Updated Feb. 28, 2004 Email: rsharp@hline.org

Guest columnist Ray Sharp reports on local, national and international politics from his bunker in windy Stanton Township. Sharp, who graduated from the University of Colorado with a B.A. in Spanish and a minor in French, claims he can tell jokes and express outrage in three languages.

Sharp is the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Coordinator at Western U.P. District Health Department in Hancock. An avid tri-athlete, Sharp is training for the Olympic Trials 20-kilometer race walk.

A mysterious, itinerant poet/portrait artist/fortune teller, who attended the 2002 Houghton Spring Art and Music Festival, writes and illustrates a poem inspired by two fair maidens from Hancock. (May 2002 photo by Michele Anderson)

In his spare time Sharp serves as President of the Copper Country Community Arts Council. He is also an organizer of the annual Houghton Spring Arts and Music Festival, and the Suzuki Striding for Strings running races.

Viewpoints

Patriotism redefined

By Ray Sharp  Posted 02/28/2004

HOUGHTON -- Over breakfast in a local café, Keweenaw Now political correspondent Ray Sharp discusses life, liberty and the pursuit of the presidency, the Orwellian redefinition of patriotism and why the defense of marriage became more urgent than the defense of America. more

I See a Bad Moon A-Risin'

By Ray Sharp  Posted 01/26/2004

ATLANTIC MINE -- Guest author Ray Sharp says his boyhood dream was to travel to outer space; but he questions whether anyone would want to travel to Mars, where temperatures range from minus 80 in the summer to minus 200 in the winter. Sharp says President Bush wants to send a manned mission to Mars by 2030 but hasn't mentioned a return trip or long-range budgeting of the project, while the U.S. sends $100 billion a year of Social Security and Medicare savings to Afghanistan and Iraq. more

Money Matters: The Economics of Bringing Art and People Together

By Ray Sharp Posted 10/24/2003

HANCOCK -- As the Copper Country Community Arts Council (CCCAC) kicks off its annual membership campaign, Council President Ray Sharp explains recent trends in public arts funding. The Council oversees the Community Arts Center and sponsors a wide range of annual arts events, such as Art in the Garden, Poor Artists Sale and gallery exhibitions. more

Happenings

Houghton to celebrate spring, art and music May 24

Posted 05/19/2003

HOUGHTON -- Sponsored by the City of Houghton and the Copper Country Community Arts Council, the Second Annual Spring Art and Music Festival will offer artists' booths, live music, food, children's art activities, running races and National Trails Day events -- including a bike parade. Guest columnist Ray Sharp, a festival organizer and race director, offers a preview of this year's festival, to be held on Saturday, May 24, on the Houghton waterfront at Mattila Square, near the UPPCO parking lot -- site of the May 2002 Festival, created and organized by Ken Thiemann. more

Viewpoints

Peaceable Kingdom: A geopolitical solution

By Ray Sharp Posted 11/22/2002

STANTON TOWNSHIP -- As America is poised for war in Iraq, columnist Ray Sharp weighs in with his own Middle East peace plan, inspired by the words of the prophet Isaiah: "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." more

Dinosaurs and Other Beasts 

Posted 11/04/2002

STANTON TOWNSHIP -- Reminding us all to vote, guest columnist Ray Sharp of Stanton Township offers his "Election Day rant" -- from SUV dinosaurs vs. fuel-cell technology to the passing of Sen. Paul Wellstone, whom he calls probably the last "unabashed liberal" elected to high office, to praise for Michigan's political leaders who act on their principles. more

Homeland Security Roundup
Posted 10/26/2002
STANTON TOWNSHIP -- A year after his first "Homeland Security Roundup," guest columnist Ray Sharp, local War Correspondent, sends another report from wind-swept Liminga. His latest comments range from local peace walks to K-Mart testing new logo colors to U.S. mobilization for war in the oil-rich Middle East.  more

Homeland Security Roundup
Posted 10/25/2001
STANTON TOWNSHIP -- Guest columnist Ray Sharp, local War Correspondent, sends another report from wind-swept Liminga. His comments range from sympathy for postal workers facing the dangers of Anthrax to ironies behind both the Afghan and Israeli/Palestinian fronts to the local conflicts over Planned Parenthood. more

Of Lice and Men
Posted 10/19/2001
STANTON TOWNSHIP -- Guest columnist Ray Sharp, War Correspondent, reports from the wind-swept steppes of Lower Liminga (or from his bunker in windy Stanton Township -- you decide). more